Dr. John Dindo, Dauphin Island Sea Lab Red snapper (Lutjanus campechanus) research at Dauphin Island Sea Lab Dr. John Dindo, Dauphin Island Sea Lab

OUTLINE PART I: Red snapper and a history of the fishery PART II: Habitat creation and restoration PART III: Red snapper population assessment

Overview of Red Snapper Fishery

History of the Red Snapper Fishery U.S. Landings of Red Snapper in U.S. Waters 1880-2003 1880 1890 1900 1910 1920 1930 1940 1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 1000000 2000000 3000000 4000000 5000000 6000000 7000000 Commercial Landings (lbs) East West Beginning of oil exploration in western gulf big drop as fleet spends more effort off Campeche move to Campeche complete increasing local catch by “boats” (vessels <5 tons) Great Depression World War II Boat building boom 2007 New Snapper Regulations??? Clay E. Porch, Stephen C. Turner, and Michael J. Schirripa. 2004. The commercial landings of red snapper in the Gulf of Mexico from 1872 to 1962. SEDAR7-AW-22 (data 1880-1962). John R. Poffenberger and Stephen C. Turner. 2004. Documentation on the preparation of the database for the red snapper stock assessment SEDAR workshop. SEDAR7-AW-17rev. (data 1962-2003)

Alabama’s Artificial Reef System MS FL LA Total Area = 3,108 km2 Corp of Engineers pre-permitted since 1987 Estimated over 20,000 structures deployed since 1958

Hugh Swingle Area MRD Reefs consist of Liberty ships, tanks, barges, toppled rigs, and concrete bridge rubble Recreational fisherman can deploy “private” reefs with pre-approved materials USA deploys and maintains concrete aggregate research modules within Hugh Swingle Courtesy ALMRD

Habitat Creation & Restoration Builds on 10 year tagging program: existing reefs installed 1998 Primary study units: ~ 18 ”private” reef complexes (reef balls, grouper ghettos) Additional artificial reefs sampled: 12 public reefs (tanks, ships, barges, bridge rubble) Artificial Reef Study Design Our Artificial Reef Study is a Tagging program extended for more than a decade Our Existing Reefs were deployed in 1998 Artificial Reefs –(we deploy and maintain) 18 reef complexes (2-3 reefs) composed of 2 reef types: Concrete Reef Balls = “Pigfish Palace” Concrete Pyramids = “Grouper Ghettos” These reefs complexes are supposedly “private” and are supposed to function as a non-fishing treatment. However, fishermen do eventually discover them over time and are more likely a “lightly” – fished treatment. TO compare our catch rates to “fully-fished” treatments we also sample 8 well-known Public Artificial Reefs – These reefs consist of Army Tanks, ships, barges, and Dismantled Concrete Bridges

Abundant Target Species Red Snapper Grey Triggerfish Red Grouper Vermilion Snapper Gag Grouper Scamp

Sampling Methods 8 stations fished 30 min each Fishing effort: 10 anglers with bottom & sow rigs Size measurements (FL/TL) Target fishes are tagged & released, & condition index is recorded Recapture information gathered from fishermen On each monthly sampling trip we randomly select Approximately 8 Fishing Stations (from both our Private Artificial Reefs and Public Artificial Reefs) And fish them 30 minutes each Average of 10 volunteer fishermen. Fishing effort is divided evenly among J, C, (bottom rigs) and J Sow and C Sow (which are fished slightly higher in the water column and use a larger hook to sample larger fishes) All Target Fishes (Reef fishes – Triggers, Red Snapper, Snap-Group Complex) are captured, measured and tagged (with Floy tag and with our return and reward information on it) and then released immediately back into the water

Fishers’ Recoveries Net movement from NCG to east, southeast slide courtesy of Will Patterson Net movement from NCG to east, southeast Little observed movement to west

ROV Work

Red snapper population assessment Multi-gear sampling program designed to address critical data needs for future stock assessment Side scan sonar Bottom trawl ROV Vertical longline Bottom longline

Red snapper size by gear type

Red snapper CPUE by month (2010)

Acknowledgements Captains Mike and Skipper Theirry and the crew of the boats “Lady Ann” and “Escape” Tech Support, boat time, fishing volunteers and graduate students